The iTunes (not Apple Music) Album Art "Download" folder on my PC running Windows 11 has become "disconnected" from the music library - so suddenly no artwork previously downloaded since 2015 is displaying. Is there a workaround to resync the downloaded album art in the folder with the library? (All custom album art that is embedded in individual music files is displaying, no problem.)
Windows, Windows 10
When did this happen? If you have a snapshot of the library file that was correctly connected to the cache then restoring that library might make it work again, otherwise I suspect you should probably delete the Download subfolder in the Album Artwork folder, then use the menu item File > Library > Get Album Artwork to get iTunes to rebuild that part of the cache with images from the iTunes Store.
tt2
Thanks for this super-rapid response!
I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but let's say within the last few days as I was uploading music files from a batch of newly acquired CDs. I should mention that I use iTunes primarily to access to my collection, 99% of which is music uploaded from CDs. Not exactly in keeping with Apple's current business model, but they get plenty of revenue from other apps on my iPhone.
Pardon my limited knowledge - can you tell me what a snapshot is?
Also, a few clarifications: I use iTunes and am avoidant of Apple Music (based on all the user concerns voiced elsewhere, plus I'd be paying a monthly fee for access to a collection that did not come from the iTunes Store). And I'm unsure that I can access the iTunes Store to get album artwork without changing from iTunes to Apple Music. Also, it would be tedious - but not impossible - to download several hundred albums' art with Get Album Artwork, if I can even access the Store from iTunes.
Finally, a new development - but I'm unsure how to take advantage of it. On a different PC that I use for backup, I discovered a version of my iTunes folders with the album artwork fully populated and visible. It's an odd configuration - the iTunes Library file is on the C: drive, while the iTunes Media/Music files, Album Art folder, etc. are all on an external D: drive. Is there a way that I could copy these folders and files to my primary PC to resolve the issue?
Sorry, by snapshot I meant some form of backup.
Store downloaded art can be obtained from the iTunes Store as long as you are signed into the iTunes Store in the iTunes app. The menu command is File > Library > Get Album Artwork. It should operate on the whole library at once with minimal effort on your part. I did not mention the Apple Music for Windows app, but for anyone asking I would thoroughly recommend avoiding it. It is a poor substitute for iTunes.
If you have exactly the same set of media items at exactly the same paths on both machine then you could, in principle, archive the library files and album artwork folder from the library with the broken artwork and replace them with copies from the working machine. The library files are those in the main iTunes folder, .itl, .itdb, .xml if present, and a hidden file called sentinel, along with the Album Artwork folder itself and all of its subfolders. If you are thinking of going down this route I might have further advice on updating the library so that it correctly reflects the content of your media folder. If the drive letters or paths are different they can potentially be fixed before you attempt to use the "new" library with the "old" media folder on the affected computer.
See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for some advice on library layout. When using an external drive I recommend having the library files in a iTunes folder that contains the iTunes Media folder as this layout is easier to backup and move between drives or computer when the need arises. A split library makes more sense when the media folder is on NAS due to the slower access speed.
tt2
Help! Album Art Download folder no longer sync'd with iTunes library
